Double Triathlon Weekend! Rose City Long Course Triathlon for me on Saturday and the Wilmot Aces Kids Triathlon on Sunday for Jackson.
My weekend started early Saturday morning as I loaded up the Jeep and I hit the road just before 5am. I had a nice drive up to Welland and arrived with plenty of time to pick up my kit and set up transition. I wouldn’t say I was nervous by any means, but I really didn’t have a clue of what to expect from the day. I thought about the time that had passed from when I last raced a triathlon and realized it has been 21 months, nearly two years, since I did Barrelman in 2017. That’s a long time between swim bike run. I felt good though and believed that I was in decent shape…my swimming has been going really well having been in the pool more than ever since joining Balance Point Triathlon and swimming two mornings a week with them along with open water swims at Splash n Dash and out at the Balance Point lake. My bike workouts haven’t been as long as they should be, but they have been high quality workouts designed to build strength and speed. My running has been good as well as I was coming off a new half marathon PB just over a month ago at Forest City. The racing should be good but you never know until you get out there how the three disciplines will work together.
The race start was at 8:30 and I was in wave 2 5 minutes later. I was also racing in the 40-44 age group for the first time, arguably the most competitive age group out there. I put my wetsuit on and hopped into the water for a little warmup before getting myself ready to go. It was race time.
Swim – 2000m
31:22 (1:34/100m)
I took my place at the front of the swim beside Luke Ehgoetz and some other fast swimmers and waited for the horn to go off. Once it did I broke into a strong sprint to get out front in order to cut across to the buoy line that runs under the water at the Welland Flatwater course. They use this course for rowing and the underwater rope line is amazing to swim with as you just stay on it and there is no need to sight…you are guaranteed to swim the shortest distance possible. I cut across in front of the swimmer beside me a bit too soon and was rewarded with a punch in the eye. My right goggle pushed right up against my eye so tight I couldn’t even open it. I was surrounded by swimmers though so there was nothing I could do except flex my eye socket to try and pop the goggle back out. Shockingly, it didn’t work. I slowed a bit and in a few meters I found a bit of clean water, so I flipped onto my back so that I could take my goggles off and fix them, then took off after the front pack that had now gapped me.
I settled into my breathing and pace and just worked my way back, swimming just on the inside of the rope line. I had lots of clean water and was pulling swimmers back one by one. It wasn’t long before I hit traffic when I caught up to the back of Wave 1…always a good sign when you catch the earlier wave before the first turn. I weaved through the crowd and worked my way around the turns to begin the swim back towards the Flatwater Centre. There was a north wind when we started so we swam into some choppy water to start but now that same wind was giving us a nice push home. I swam out to the turns at a high 1:30’s pace but dropped it down to high 1:20’s with the wind assistance. I continued to fight traffic and was passing some blue caps from my wave as well as the wave 1 red caps, so I had caught some of the swimmers that gapped me while fixing my goggles at the start. I made the final turn and then crossed the canal to the swim exit…I jumped out of the water and made the run in front of the stands of people and up the stairs into transition. While running I heard Steve Fleck on the PA saying, “If anyone needs a clinic on how to get out of their wetsuit, this is how it’s done”, and he proceeded to point out how I unzipped the back and pulled the top off in one fluid motion…made me smile. I also heard Steve call out Luke’s name as he exited the swim and I was already at my bike pulling my feet out of my wetsuit, so I knew I must have had a good swim coming out ahead of him.
Bike – 56K
1:26:36 (38.8kph)
I slipped into my bike shoes, donned my awesome new pink helmet and ran my bike to the mount line. The bridge that we used to cross to get out of town on this bike course no longer exists so Multisport Canada had to make some changes to get around the canal. This meant that we hit a small, 300m stretch along a fitness path which would be a no-passing zone. We passed through here on the way out and the way back and I had no issues at all…just a minor inconvenience. Not long after coming through this section I heard the womp-womp sound of a disc wheel bearing down on me and Luke tore past. He was nice enough to thank me for towing him along on the swim but wasn’t nice enough to return the favour and tow me along on the bike…he was gone. I pushed hard on the pedals and cruised along at a good speed, just a touch under 40kph. I noticed right from the get go that my power meter wasn’t showing me the numbers I expected to see, they were way too low (like 150’s instead of 230’s). I could tell by the effort that something was off so I would have to race more on feel and use my cadence numbers instead…old school.
There was minimal wind out on the course and it made for some great biking. I picked off athletes from wave 1 and made my way up through the field. The only guys passing me were pretty beastly and I had no chance of keeping up with them, and unless they had a number between 40-44 on their calf I didn’t even care. One guy from my age group did go zooming by and I put in a halfhearted effort to stay with him, but when I realized it was Randy Cooper I knew it was only going to hurt me so I let him go. Smart decision as Randy had the fastest split in the age group and was 3rd quickest overall…I didn’t stand a chance.
I made the turn when I hit the shore of Lake Erie and began the ride back…just a touch more wind in this stretch but still nothing to worry about. My speed was still holding real steady a touch below 40. I came up to the bottle exchange at 32K and tossed my Gatorade and grabbed a new bottle of F2C. The volunteer and I botched the first exchange but I was able to successfully grab a bottle from the next guy.
The bike back to T2 was pretty uneventful but it did have a pretty funny moment…when the course merged back together about 15km to the end I saw one of the athletes still on his way out. He was riding along eating what appeared to be a submarine sandwich…there’s a guy who’s got the right idea! It sure made my Honey Stinger chews seem unappealing. I made my way across the fitness path for the second time and then slipped out of my shoes to jump off the bike…I was off the bike well under an hour and a half and my average speed of 38.8kph was my fastest bike ever. I’ll take it!
Run – 15K
1:05:01 (4:20/km)
I zipped through T2 and hit the run course hard. What little wind we had during the swim and bike was gone completely, which didn’t bode well for what was going to be a hot run. The course is nice, taking you up and down both sides of the canal, but there is no shade at all. We had full sun and the heat was creeping in…it felt hot right away. I passed a couple of people right away and according to my watch I was running fast despite what my legs were telling me. I had done a couple of short runs off the bike over the last few months of training, but nothing really prepares you for race day other than race day experience. I was through my first kilometer in 3:52, much faster than I should have been running. I took my foot off the gas a bit but was still going quick, down in the low 4’s. I felt okay but at the same time I knew the second loop of the run was going to be a challenge. On the bright side, I was getting all kinds of cheers and compliments on my Tri Sirena Pina Colada kit…it was certainly a big hit. I may not have won the race (spoiler, I know…), but I might have won ‘best costume’. The first aid station had a big sign as I ran up to it saying that it was being manned by the Parrot Heads In South Niagara (P.H.I.N.S.) and my kit was pure Margaritaville…I hit the aid station and yelled out to them, “Fins to the left! Fins to the right!”...it got a laugh out of them. Sorry for any non-Jimmy Buffett fans reading this, this likely makes no sense at all.
The nice thing about a two-loop out and back run is you get to see lots of people out on the course, and there were plenty of familiar faces out there. I was cheering friends and teammates on as I ran along and was enjoying the support from the spectators and other athletes as well. One young guy that I was near the entire run kept telling me how much he liked my kit and was calling me “awesome-kit-guy” every time we saw each other.
Still cruising along, I came to the 5K marker and looked at my watch…19:50-something. I did not feel like I was running a 20-minute 5K pace and I knew I didn’t have that left in me for another 10K. I was starting to feel the fade coming. I was going back and forth with another 40-44 age grouper and passed him at the second turnaround…I asked him if we were going to pace off each other the entire run and he said “Only if you’re slowing down”. Prophetic words. I came through the first lap in 30:06 but the wheels were beginning to fall off and each kilometer was getting slower and slower. I thought back to the early stages of the bike when I realized my power meter wasn’t working properly and wondered if I rode too hard. Probably, but nothing I could do about it now except hold on for one more lap.
It was a bit of a sufferfest on the second lap but I managed to hold on. There were a lot more people on the course now and I couldn’t tell if I was passing people ahead of me or a lap behind me…one of the worst things about multi-loop races. I had at least put a little bit of a gap between the other guy in my age group from earlier in the race but he was still hanging close enough to keep me honest. I saw even more people I knew on the second loop and it helped me push through. After the final turnaround the young guy behind me said, “Let’s go Awesome-Kit-Guy, just 2K to the finish. This is what we train for!” Then he blew past me. Youth. I stayed close though and then he said something about making the last kilometer our fastest and I just laughed. He was serious though and found another gear. Yup, youth. I did dig deep though and tried not to embarrass myself too much, ending with a solid finish line kick.
I came home in 3:05:34, a time I was very pleased with considering I had no idea what to expect from the day. I last did this race back in 2016, my Ironman year in Ironman shape, and I put up a 3:15 for 2nd in my age group and 20th overall. 10 minutes faster didn’t exactly translate to better results though as I ended up in 6th place AG and 21st overall. Lots of talent in M40-44, deep deep pool. I learned a few things out there though and know where I can improve for next time. Need to get my legs back in triathlon shape! I didn’t stick around for awards since I had a long drive home and wasn’t collecting any hardware unless ‘Best Costume’ was an actual thing.
Fast forward to Sunday morning and Michelle, Jackson and I were on the road again to the Wilmot Aces Kids Triathlon in New Hamburg. Jackson was racing in the 10&11 year old group as a 10 year old, but he was hoping for a good result himself despite taking on the older kids. His last triathlon he came in second place but had a few obstacles to overcome, namely counting his swim laps properly (the volunteer at his first race made him swim an extra 50m in the pool) and being calm and relaxed in Transition (he was really flustered after coming out of the pool behind a kid he knew he had lapped).
We got to the pool and had plenty of time to get his kit and set up transition before running into his Balance Point teammates. We cheered on one of his buddies to a win in 8&9 year old girls and then it was Jackson’s turn. He was a bit nervous but once the buzzer went to start the swim he was all business. He made quick work of the 150m swim, getting into T1 in just 2:22 (fastest swim in his AG). T1 was much better this time around and I barely made out in time to catch him flying by on the first lap of the bike. He had a bit of an issue at the first bend in the road as the kid in front of him had tried to turn around (it wasn’t a turnaround) and took a little spill. Jackson started to turn around himself and then realized there was plenty of course still ahead. He took off after the slight slow down and had a great ride the rest of the way.
He jumped off his bike after his 4K with a 10:30 split, second fastest behind his Balance Point buddy. Another quick transition and he was off for his 2 lap run through the woods. We love trail running together and while this was a stone-dust path and not what we run on, he still loved being in the shaded woods. He told me that at one point he came up with a kid who had a ‘19’ on his calf (for wave 19…Jackson was in wave 23), and when the kid saw him he started sprinting as fast as he could. Jackson had no problem staying with him and the kid quickly ran out of steam and Jackson went by him. When Jackson made the pass he heard the kid say, “Oh F---!” Too funny. We didn’t get to see Jackson running through the woods but he didn’t take too long to pop out and make his finish line sprint. He finished the 2K run in 8:30 (4th fastest) and his finish time of 21:22 was good for 2nd place, right behind his Balance Point buddy. Great day for the BPT Kids Club!
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